Stephanie Weaver: Many bad choices led to teen's death

Defense attorney Abby L. Rigdon perfectly summed up my thoughts from last week's murder trial for Avery Valentin-Bair in her closing argument, saying it was such a waste for Christhian Torres, 16, to lose his life over a popped bike tire.

There was no question during the trial that Valentin-Bair fatally stabbed Torres during a fight in the 1100 block of Locust Street on Sept. 25, 2016. What the jury had to determine was when the stabbing occurred in a chaotic and escalating string of events.

The night began when Torres decided to put on a Halloween mask and ride his bike around the block, scaring a bunch of children. A neighbor got fed up and chose to go out and pop Torres' bike tire with a machete, believing the rider was an adult.

Torres went home and told his parents about the tire. They got upset and chose to go back to the block to confront the neighbor. He met the group on the sidewalk and, seeing Torres was only a teen, quickly offered to either pay for the tire or have a fair fight.

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The two sides were calming down and working things out when Valentin-Bair, who lived on the block, decided to yell back at the crowd, ratcheting things back up and leading to a fight and the stabbing.

"So many people made so many bad decisions on that night, and any one of them could have changed the entire course," Rigdon said.

She's absolutely right. Look back over the details and take note of how many times someone made a choice. Each time, they not only made a bad choice, but arguably the worst possible choice, further perpetuating this tragic night.

While that itself is awful, there's something else that makes me even sadder.

During the trial, witnesses were asked if the area was a "rough neighborhood." Many shied away from answering directly, but Valentin-Bair shrugged and said, "It's the city of Reading, it's rough."

I got similar responses from people when I told them about the case, "It's Reading," offered as a perfectly reasonable explanation. I even reacted the same way at first.

But that shouldn't be an acceptable explanation. There is no reason a teen's immature decision to wear a mask should lead to his death.

A lot of adults made a lot of choices that night before a knife ever came out, allowing their emotions and pride to fuel a minor conflict into a senseless murder when Valentin-Bair made the worst decision of all.

Hopefully those involved, and those of us who just heard about it, can learn from it.